In contrary to the rest of Indonesia Java is ethnically pretty homogene. The population of the island consist mainly of Javanese, Sundanese and Madurese people. The two first groups form the native, while the Madurese came in the 18th century from the Island of Madurwa, close to Java. The Javanese are about two third of the total population of Java, Sundanese and Madurese have twenty and ten per cent. The neighboring islands of Sumatra and Borneo are much less populated and ethnically much more hetrogene than Java.
In cultural view the differenciation is much bigger. From historic ages there are four zones on Java, the Javanese core-area, the Northern coast, the Pasundan or Sunda-area in West-Java and Blambangan in the Eastern corner. The ialsnf Madura forms a fifth area, it has strong cultural bands with the coastal area of Java.
The Javanese core-area
The most famous area of culture is the core-area of Central-, and East-Java. It is the region of Javanese culture, called
kejawen. The area is leading in the cultural way, it's language, art and manners are the finest of Java. Here, in own environment, the Javanese nobility still stands. Also this is the area where the most generals, polotical leaders and businessmen come of Indonesia come from.
The
kejawen area stretches from Banyumas in the West to Biltar in the East, and contains the most densely populated agricultural area of Indonesia. The volcanoes which dominate the landscape are reasonably far from eachother and are separated by wide valleys, which are rich of water and are therefor very good for wet rice-plantations. It is no coincidence that this area produced the most powerfull kingdom of the old Java.
The 18th century palaces of Yogyakarta and Surakarta make the centre of the
kejawen-area. The aristocratic refinement of the palaces has clear tracks in the language, art and culture of the area. In the daily manners modesty rules. Also the textile decorations show this rule, with their stress on the earthly colors like
soga-brown and indigo.
It's not strange that the population attaches much value to social status. Differences in status are shown in a difficult system of higher and lower languages, each with their own words and use. In religious ways the population is hetrogene. As everywhere on Java Islam rules, but there are big differences between orthodox muslems, which attach much value to prayer, the quran and islamic times, and the 'Javanese' Muslems which place myticality, local rituals and traditional Javanese laws of normaliry (
adat ) on top of the list. Frequent conflicts between both camps lead to Muslems changing to Chritianity or Hinduism. In some Central-Javanese citues 20 per cent of the population is Christian.
The Northern Coast
The second area with a clear own culture is the great Northern coastal area or
pasisir, which stretches from Cirebon in the west to Surabaya and pasuran in the east. The population is ethnically and in the way of language Javanese, but due to centuries old trading much incommon with the Malay speaking traders and sailors in other parts of the archipel. Compared to the Javanese core-area the population of
pasisir is more direct, less reservated and more islamic.
The
kejawen-Janavese sees them as rather agressive and rude. In the inlands widely appreciated soft, round faces are changed by fierce faces and somewhat curling hair, proove of mixing with Malay, Arabics and Indonesians from other islands. Also the clothings is different; the
pasisirbatik had bright colors, rel, green, blue and yellow.
The coastal population is citylike and normal, while the core-area more has the rural and feodal character. When the Dutch improved the Javanese infrastructure in the 19th century, the
pasisir-merchands went to foreign countries as businessmen. They introduced Islam as well as their preference for tamburines and drums instead of gamelan, and Koran instead of wayang, and the martial art
silat instead of the kingdom-like dances.
The Sundanese from West-Java
The Sundanese in the mountain range of West-Java form the biggest ethnical group. Their language has more incommon with Malay or Minangkabau than with Javanese. Their system of higher and lowerr languages though, has been taken from the Javanese, but also the
kejawen-dance , literature, gamelan, and wayang are from the Javanese.
The Sundanese culture differs strong on two points from the Javanese; Islam has more influence and the social hierarchy is less intense. The Sunda-area is somewhat hilly and was, until the start of the last century, densely forested and low populated. The population had dry ricefields ( ladang-farming ) and lived mainly in small villages, where the kings didn't have much influence on them at all.
However the area also had known royal cultures, these seem not powerfull enough to found sacret sites like in the monumental Central-, and East-Javanese type. With the opening to the inlands in the 19th century, for tea, coffe and kinaproduction, the highlands got a character of bufferstate, wich enouraged the individuality of the people again. The strong influence of the Islam features the wayang-theatre, which is merely based on Islamic stories than the Central-Javanese wayang.
A small Sundanese community, the Badui, in the Southeastern mountain-area, still hasn't any influence from the Islam nowadays. The Badui-religion is a mix from pre-islamic polytheism, and Hindusm. The Badui are farm,ers which live by pre-islamic traditions from their ancestors. In a wrong way, they are sometimes called a seperate ethnical group.
Blambangan: the rough East
The Eastern corner of Java starts just west of Malang and stretches to Straight Bali. It is also calles the
Blambangan, the rememberance of the earlier Hinduist kingdom. The Eastern corner is the most rough and in cultural ways the most varied area of this part of Java.
After the fall of the Hindu-Bhuddhist Majapahit in the 16th centiry, the Javanese islamic armies regularly attacked the Eastern corner. The small Blambangan ( the capital was just southt of Banyuwangi ) stayed independent until far into the 18th century. After the fall of the kingdom, the local population, the Osing, became Islamic. The Osings kept their arts and the adat, which are nowadays unique on Java.
A more pure, more rural type of the East-Javanese culture can be found with the Tenggerese, which remain in the mountain areaaround Mount Bromo and Semeru. After the fall of Blambangan they refused to become Islamic. Unless several attacks by Islamic armies which wanted their slaved, whe far-away mountain-area was never taken. Until now, 500 years after the fall of Majapahit, the Tenggerese priests read for Siwa, Brahma and Visnu. Opposite to the also Hinduist Balinese people, they didn't have any relation with Hinduist royalty.
The wars between Islamic armies of Central-Java and the Tenggerese, slowed population growth in the Eastern corner. By the start of the 19th century th most villages were destroyed. On that, the Dutch government stimulated migration of labourers for coffee ans sugar plants, which were built in the area at that time. New people from Central-Java came to the southcoast, Malang and Lunajang, while the Northern coast was mostly populated by Madurese.
The Madurese
The Madurese society is very clear influenced by Malay sailors from the coastal area's of Western-Indonesia. Madura is dry and hilly. The soil on top has eroded dramatically. Farming is hardly possible and the population is extremely poor. It's likely that Madurese were sailors for a long time. Some were mercenary for the Javanese kings, and later the Dutch. The Javanese would like to look down on the Madurese, but what martial arts concerning they have to admid their better opposite, but above all they fear the Madurese hothead. The Madurese say that the Javanese are cowards and are worse Muslems.
With the first Madurese to go to Java were a lot of religious teachers, which founded religious centra with religious education (
pesantren ) in the centre. The result is still noticable nowadays, from elections to womens dressing.
New borders
In the five areas named above even so much cultures started. Bacause of the fact that borders were never waterproof, these cultures have influenced eachother in one way or another, while recent migration has led to elements of each of those cultures was spread over entire Java.
Within the areas there were also clear differences. Mountain people were, and are, much more direct than inhabitants of the lower areas, which they see as snobbish. On the other side the people in the lower areas think that the people in the mountains are no more than rural farmers. What the religious factors concerns the aristocratic pull to the mystical, traders to the orthodox and farmers to a mixture of idea's.
The traditional cultural and ethnical borders have lost their power. They have been covered up by modern differences, mostly between the city middle class and the rural population. However only a quarter of the population lives in cities, they are at the base of a new 'Indonesian culture', which is spread by education and media. With some left behind, the Javanese, Sundanese and Madurese are nowadays more interested in car's, tv's and pop-music, than with gamelan and wayang.
In contrary with the modern Bali the Javanese civilization is the keeper of the traditional culture. The farmers, not the people from the city, keep their wayang kulit and masks where they belong. Many people from the city probably haven't even seen it in their life, except on television.
In contraty to the many small differences between all cultures at different cultural and ethnical changes have one base, the roots of the Javanese. At first is noticed that the friendlyness and cosyness is liked by Javanese. Relaxation and amusement is sought in intensife and versatile others. The Javanese have a special word for it;
rame, This points at the cosy and relaxed atmosphere, which appears when Javanese meet eachother. Pre-war psycologists already discovered that many depresivity was hardly known on the island. Javanese seem to adapt to almost every situation, and stay happy and lifely as long as they are between people.
Foreigners with a tight travelling schedule are overwhelmed by heat many times, the masses of people or the poornes of Java. They do the best with reminding the simple truth: the beauty of Java is not just only in art, landschape and old things, but also in the smiling people and the immense warmth of the people. In hotels and stations it can be difficult to value it. Just as with the tropical heat relaxation is the secret. Only then it's possible to enjoy the power of life of the fascinating island.
